Eins, zwei, drei, vier… THÜMPED!

St. Pauli bounced back from an early setback yesterday to thump Bochum 5-1 at the Millerntor, but it wasn’t enough to guarantee safety going into the final day. Former FCSP loanee Michael Gregoritsch scored his 7th goal of the season in the opening minutes of the game after a very poor pass in midfield by Buchtmann. It was a disastrous start, and one that meant St. Pauli were facing down at the 3.liga.

It’s not often that St. Pauli leave you breathless, but before half time the team had turned the game on it’s head with two superbly taken goals. Lennart Thy scored a wonderful volley from inside the box. The first goal had come from a long free kick into the area, as did the second. Another free kick was floated in, flicked on, and it fell to Marcel Halstenberg at the back post to smash the ball into the net, giving them ‘keeper no chance at his near post. It was a rare glimmer of quality from St. Pauli this season.

After half time it was Buchtmann’s chance to get in on the action, making a key interception just inside the Bochum half, before running for what seemed like forever unopposed into the Bochum box and hitting his shot hard past the Bochum ‘keeper – think Michael Owen against Argentina. Beautiful.

The fourth goal said as much about Bochum as it did St. Pauli. Bochum have now conceded 55 goals this season, the highest in the 2.Bundesliga, and it’s no surprise. The passing and movement from St. Pauli was great, but Bochum’s attempt at defending makes St. Pauli look like Arsenal from the 1990s. The passing move ended with Thy alone inside the box to tap home in the easiest of fashions. Sobota came off the bench to score the fifth, picking up the ball on the edge of box and ghosting past the hapless defenders before firing home. Thumped, indeed.

Unfortunately a controversial win for 1860 Munich over Nurnberg means St. Pauli could still be relegated next weekend, which we’ll look at more over the course of the week, but they’re in a good position to save themselves after a disastrous season. Ewald Lienen, take a bow.